As you know, PEF has been aggressively pursuing safe staffing levels for our health professionals across the state. The PEF legislative department drafted a bill that puts some real “teeth” into the existing overtime law. Thank you for taking the time to contact your local elected legislators on A.10441 and S.6311 which would have provided a fine for an employer of not less than one thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars, per violation where an employer requires a nurse to work more that such nurse’s regularly scheduled work hours; further provides that the employee shall receive an additional fifteen percent of the overtime payment from the employer for each violation. Although this particular bill has not passed yet, our collective voices have been heard. Due the inactivity by the legislature, we then lobbied the Governor who decided to tackle this issue head on as evidenced by his press release.